Puranic stories typically begin with Indra not paying attention to the yagna while an asura is deep in tapasya. Indra’s power thus wanes while the asura’s power waxes. The asura is able to invoke Brahma and get boons from him, using which he attacks, defeats and drives the devas out of their paradise, swarga. Dispossessed, Indra and the devas go to Brahma, not for boons but for help. Brahma then directs them either to Shiva, Vishnu or the Goddess, who form the foundation of the three major theistic schools of Hinduism.
